Critical Thinking
'What is critical thinking?' Critical thinking is to think clear, open-minded and rational about something to eventually come to the conclusion. This demands some effort and, depending on the subject or domain, skills and experience. This can be done either individually or in group. Critical thinking can be applied not only for educational purposes, but also professional uses, such as: politics, biology, history, standard procedures, art, technology, music, ecology, and more. Every purpose has its own way of using critical thinking. By applying critical thinking, the following is possible: * Make clear judgements on the false, true or partially true nature of things * Recognize and prevent flaws in our thinking and reasoning * Evaluate a conclusion or evidence * Clarify your goals * Read between the lines * Find a proper method to approach a situation * Reconstruct a situation The steps of critical thinking 1) Understand the problem We first of all need to know what we are looking for. Sometimes it's also possible to divide the problem in multiple sub-questions to make it easier. Afterwards we decide how to approach the question and in which order we solve the sub-questions. 2) Acquire information After understanding what we search, we need information. You can either find it by yourself, through sources or a combination of both. If we need to find it ourselves, we need to observe, interpret ate, analyse, evaluate and fully understand. Having experience and applying methods and techniques can also be of use. It's not always based on logic and science. Other problems require information about philosophy, reasoning, witnesses (in case of crimes) and other sources depending on the question. The only problem here is that the information has to be real, accurate, credible, relevant to the problem and clear. If it’s fake or irrelevant, it’s like having no information at all. If it's inaccurate, not credible or unclear, we can't apply it because we know too little or don't understand it. 3) Apply your information, find connections and make conclusions When we understand the information inside and out, we must apply it to come to a conclusion. In most cases the information on its own is not usefull, but the connection between the different information that gives the result. Multiple conclusions are possible. Depending on the subject, it could be that a certain skill or experience is needed to be able to use the information correctly. Psychological problems require knowledge about the human mind. For social problems experience with other cultures and beliefs is necessary. Planning a schedule for a whole department is done by people with management skills. Simply understanding the information isn't enough. You must be capable to get the most uses out of it and that’s what it means to be able to fully apply it. Your character, way of thinking and mental state are also key to a solution. You have to be able to question yourself and realize you’re wrong from time to time. But your behavior is also important when it involves someone else. You must be able to adapt to someone else to make your point clear, seeing that no one is the same. Sometimes you have to change your way of thinking too. You can't view a mentally unstable person the same as a program or an argument about philosophy. Your character, way of thinking and mental state are also key to a solution. You have to be able to question yourself and realize you’re wrong from time to time. But your behavior is also important when it involves someone else. You must be able to adapt to someone else to make your point clear, seeing that no one is the same. Sometimes you have to change your way of thinking too. You can't view a mentally unstable person the same as a program or an argument about philosophy. 4) Evaluate your conclusions and come to the final solution We need to make sure the conclusion works, so we need to put it to the test it. How we can evaluate a solution depends on the type of problem. Some problems can be tested by just using it and collecting results, like finding a new kind of fuel, but other problems, for example someone' s mental state or a medical procedure, cannot be evaluated this way. Some ways to do this by asking a second opinion, computer simulations or comparing to relatable or similar experiences. When our conclusion is wrong, you have to re-evaluate the information. Critical thinking is not supposed to give you the right answer right away. It's supposed to get you closer to the truth step by step. Its also possible that your conclusion is right, but there's a better solution for the problem. For example: you made a program to make an animation, but someone else found a faster and easier way to animate the same picture. In other words, the important thing is to keep questioning yourself. How is critical thinking relevant to DAE We know what critical thinking is now, but how do we use it in DAE? First of all we can apply it to each course separately. * In math it’s the simple matter of understanding what theory is applied, finding the right formula and using that knowledge to find our solution. *In programming we split the program up into different parts and then we approach each problem separately. The combination of the multiple small parts of programming result in the big program we wanted. Animating a sprite, for example, can be divided into showing the sprite, the time interval between frames and the animation itself. *In 3D we need to think about how we are going to build the prop, environment or character. There are many ways to do this, but we need to do it in a way so we get a fluent playing game with amazing looking models and also a fast way. So we need to take time, polycount, details and more into account when we approach the modeling. *In preproduction we need to design complex and comprehensible models that fit the descriptions of the task at hand. We also need to think about the shape, perspective and style. If we shade them, we need to use our knowledge of lights to find the highlight and core shadow. Visual language is no exception either: *For visual technologies how we can create a certain mood in a scene for example using the different kinds of lighting. *In art history we analyze the art for characteristics that can help us find what art movement it belongs to or to understand what meaning the painter gave to the artwork. *Professional self - understanding is a means to help us with critical thinking. *The DAE Tuesdays is meant to listen to someone else and understand them, but also to reflect on what they have said and see how we can use it for ourselves. But we'll also need critical thinking for our future professional careers. We have to think about for who do we make the game, what genre, the storyline (if there is one), characters, special features,... . Critical thinking is very important for a game designer or animator. Most importantly the digital industry is a rapidly evolving sector, where new methods are constantly discovered and invented. I such a situation, if ever, an ideal method will never present itself. Which is why it's important to doubt the presented methods so that we'll be more likely to discover the more efficient methods ourselves, and never be satisfied with the current level of efficiency. Influential philosophers concerning critical thinking Plato René Descartes Category:Critical Thinking